I’m currently going through a spell right now as a leader where if I let myself, I could easily fall into the category of hopeless. Have you ever felt like no decision was the “right” one? It’s times like these that I’ve learned to develop what I call “sensitively thick skin.” I don’t want to be so calloused to criticism that I fail to receive anything constructive out of the array of flying opinions. But I also don’t want to be so sensitive that I take everything I hear personally. This only leads to offense and walls being built up around my ego (which should ALWAYS be left at the door of any Kingdom-related venue you serve in). So I let the things meant for destruction bounce, and the frustrations weaved with truth sneak in.
One thing I can never ever let my eyes turn from is the realization that I GET to do what I do only by the grace of God (this kind of thinking helps me stay grounded whenever I’M frustrated with anybody who’s leading me!). We’re all imperfect people serving a perfect God. But because He likes to use the foolish things of this world to shame the wise… He chooses people like you and me to be the instruments that play the melody of His masterpiece. It would be foolish of me to think that I had anything to do with the success of the ministry I serve in. If I didn’t make myself available, he’d simply use somebody else! So with that in mind, I’m grateful. If you are reading this, and you’re currently frustrated with me or my leadership, just know that I’m fighting my way back out of this hole. The funk that I was in is slowly reversing itself from resembling the stench of rotten eggs, to more of the likes of a KC and the Sunshine band tune. I’m taking the necessary steps to get all the wrong things (for me) off my plate, and all the right things back on. I love each and every one of you.
Here’s a tasty bit about opposition from Ed Young:
Since my last post my life has been filled with, sadly to say, not nearly enough of the aforementioned activity. Which is writing, creating and recording music. I’m desperately hoping that this will change soon in the event that my weekly to-do lists and meetings begin to magically work themselves out 
Here’s what else has been happening in my life.
Tri has been playing shows like crazy. Last week I sang for approximately 24 hours and I’m feeling it this week. Along those same lines I’ve started saving for a new guitar (PRS Hollowbody I). I’m about 1/7 of the way there… it’s really expensive, we’ll see if I make it before getting interrupted.
I (we) have a live recording coming up which we have yet to set a date for it but I think it will more than likely fall into May sometime. I’m excited.
That’s about it!
Here’s to hoping I can write another blog sooner than the last!
It’s been a while since I’ve written a “meaty” blog. So here goes.
I read a quote today from a dear friend of mine (….) that struck an old familiar chord in me.
“… to evolve you have to dismantle, and that means accepting the idea that nothing you’ve created in the past matters anymore, except that it brought you here.
To pick up your new marching orders.”
That applies to me as a leader, musician and as a songwriter. That applies to everything that I’m a part of and all the success that I might think I can use to identify myself or fancy myself a big deal. It means that I don’t have to get nervous about the option of failing in front of the new people who are watching me who weren’t watching me 3 years ago. I can simply stop, breathe, and live like I’m in a room of 5 people but lead like I’m in a room of 5,000… just like I’ve been instructed to do.
Today is as good of a day as any to redeclare my dependence on God. That it isn’t me who lives, but Christ who lives in me. I don’t know if any of you ever feel the same way, but sometimes I carry unnecessary weight on my shoulders. Sometimes I need to remember that this life that I live has nothing to do with me or building my kingdom… but rather, to build His.
Well here I go again. I’m going to attempt to be transparent without making too many excuses. Here were my projected goals for 2008 concerning the Rock Church Music Ministry:
Music Ministry Goals for 2008
Build A Stronger Team/ Develop More Depth in Our Worship Services
-Get CD’s for new songs – sometimes (mostly for special occasions)
-CD with me singing parts for choir members – NO
-CD with chord charts for band members – Chord charts yes, CD sometimes (see above)
-Personally inspecting leaders’ lives – Not really…
-Via weekly or bi-weekly e-mails – ….
-Weekend dinner dates with couples or going out for coffee/hanging out with some of the single men (appoint Amanda as the leader over the single women and as a stronger leader in general) – sort of
-Spend more time rehearsing with EVERYBODY together – YES!
-Have a worship practice – not nearly as often as I would have liked
YOUTH: Sundays around 3:30pm or 4:00pm (CD with new songs to them by previous Wednesday) – ended up being Sundays, and then Mondays and Tuesdays
RCWT: Thursdays at 7:00 with everybody after vocal run through with frontline at 6:30 (CD with new songs to them by previous Sunday) – YES!
Being More Punctual
-Being early and prepared for rehearsal – Thursdays YES, Sundays about 75% of the time
-Start on time – YES! (Except the dreaded Sunday morning sound checks)
Musical Goals
-Vocalists doing Singing Success – er…. no. That’s my bad.
Assignment for Everybody
-Have everybody e-mail me explaining in what areas they would like to see themselves improve in both RCWT and personally in 2008… BE SPECIFIC! – Yes but I did a horrible job of following up/responding to them.
Develop Systems
-Phone Tree – YES, but Implementation died out about halfway through the year
-Additional worship leaders when I’m not there or if I want to take a week “off” – No, but 2009 is looking very promising…
So there you have it. I pretty much sucked at accomplishing my goals. But why then did 2008 seem so successful? Why do I not feel like a failure until I look at these goals? Why does it seem like we are stronger than we’ve ever been? Did I make unrealistic or unnecessary goals?
I’d honestly like to know your thoughts.
I have much hope for the RCMM in 2009. And I truly believe this year is going to be the year that things start to blow up! And I hope that it’s because I begin to get out of the way, stop DOING and allow God to raise up others to fulfill their calling as worship leaders, musicians, singers, production directors, media coordinators, and lighting and sound engineers. Lord, use me to empower others.
Favorite quote of the week: ”God really can’t use us if we won’t [be used]” – Jaron Dean
You may or may not read the Deadly Viper Blog. I do… it can be extremely insightful. A lot of their posts seem like they could be proverbs or something. Anyway, here’s a great post that really spoke to me entitled “Before You Critique…”
Often times, our point of view says more about US than it does the circumstance upon which we are commenting…
A young couple moves into a new neighborhood. The next morning while they are eating breakfast, the young woman sees her neighbor hanging the wash outside. “That laundry is not very clean”, she said. “She doesn’t know how to wash correctly. Perhaps she needs better laundry soap.”
Her husband looked on, but remained silent.
Every time her neighbor would hang her wash to dry, the young woman would make the same comments.
About one month later, the woman was surprised to see a nice clean wash on the line and said to her husband: “Look, she has learned how to wash correctly. I wonder who taught her this.”
The husband said, “I got up early this morning and cleaned our windows.”
Filed under: Transparency
There’s no pun intended for the title of my blog. I constantly make the mistake of thinking that I have “arrived” in my faith. I think that I can take credit for where I am today. It’s at those moments that I prove myself wrong. A while back I read this quote from a book I was reading:
The answer, thank God, is that Jesus Christ can and does.”
I believe that there are certain people in everybody’s life that are irreplaceable. If you don’t have somebody like that in your life, then you need to.
When it comes to music, these are my recent guilty pleasures:
I booger cried yesterday. I woke up with a phone call from my mom saying that she had to put my last living childhood dog to sleep. We called her “Girl.” I know I’m biased but she was the best dog ever. BIG, sweet, playful and loving. She did what she was told and never begged for food (a feature I hate about untrained dogs).
It can be dangerous when a person in leadership decides to be transparent about something. There are two types of people whom that person will hear from: those who can relate and those who wanna hate. Relaters react positively and let you know that you’re not alone in this world. Haters push you into a corner and try to isolate you as “abnormal” and in need of change before you embarrass yourself or quite possibly them any more than you already have.
